New brain trust ...

I do not believe Woody Johnson is so dumb that he doesn't understand that PSL's and ticket sales are directly related to wins and losses. Every move is made to help the team win. The Favre debacle, the Tebow debacle... and everything in between.

Even if he is that dumb, he's not going anywhere. Period. So, if you are praying or complaining that we need a new owner stop spinning your wheels. A new front office and coaching staff is a reality and hopefully in the near future.

I have an off the wall idea for a whole new brain trust to completely change the leadership and direction of this franchise. I think it would be a huge move to re-unite the legendary staff from the Dallas Cowboys of the early 90's.

I am 99.9% sure Turner and Garrett will be available at seasons end, and if the Bills continue to underachieve and miss the playoffs Wannesdetd may be as well if there is a big coaching change in Buffalo.

This is an offense driven league now and Turner and Garrett would be dynamic together. I know there is no chance Johnson will ever coach agin but I always wanted to see him have a crack at GM. To assemble this original group again could be special. The free agent players and coaches that this group would attract would be reason enough to make this happen.

We also have a huge re-building project here and an interesting commodity in Revis. If there is any way to pull off another Hershel Walker type power move to jump start this team with draft picks and a total culture change I think Johnson and this group could make it happen.

Woody needs to drive over to Johnson's home with a dump truck full of cash and offer him the spotlight in NYC. That dude loves attention, and what better opportunity than to win a Superbowl in NY?

I think it's crazy except for perhaps the Jimmy Johnson part. He may be itching to get back in the game to show-up his old boss. I actually could see Woody hiring Jimmy Johnson as President and letting Jimmy run the entire operation.

I think it's crazy except for perhaps the Jimmy Johnson part. He may be itching to get back in the game to show-up his old boss. I actually could see Woody hiring Jimmy Johnson as President and letting Jimmy run the entire operation.

IRVING — Jimmy Johnson said he wasn’t interested in creating controversy, but he wanted to set the record straight Wednesday about his role with the Cowboys in the years he coached the team.
“The time I was with the team, I had complete and total responsibility over the football operation,” Johnson said in a telephone interview from his home in the Florida Keys. “That meant personnel, the draft, coaches, including the strength coach. Everything.
“It was always in my contract.”
Johnson was reacting to comments owner Jerry Jones made in the wake of the Cowboys’ loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Jones said he ran the Cowboys’ football operation from the day he bought the team in 1989 and would continue to do so.
“When I bought the team, the night I bought it, I said I would be doing what I’m doing and that’s GM the team and making the final decisions on personnel,” Jones said late Sunday night. “That’s the way it’s always been done. We’ve won three Super Bowls doing it that way, so I’m going to do it again.”
Johnson, who coached two of those three Super Bowl teams, and has been widely credited for assembling the talent that twice beat the Buffalo Bills and the team that went on to win a third against the Pittsburgh Steelers under Barry Switzer, agreed that Jones held the title of “general manager” but…
“When we signed that first contract Jerry said, ‘I’ll be in charge of the finances, you’ll be in charge of the football,’ we’ll make history,” Johnson said.
Jones responded in a statement Wednesday night.
“I came into the NFL as the owner and general manager of this team, and one of the first decisions I made in the role of GM was to hire Jimmy as head coach,” Jones said.
“Jimmy and I worked well together. We had great communication, and I have always appreciated what he has done for the organization. I wanted all the input in the world from Jimmy on personnel.
“During Jimmy’s tenure, the authority to hire the players was with the GM. But it was agreed that we wouldn’t bring a player into the organization that he didn’t approve of. We were a team and it worked very well. In our unique circumstances, where the owner and the GM were the same person, in the case of a disagreement — which we never had — the owner had the ultimate authority.”
Jones and Johnson arrived in 1989. The Cowboys won Super Bowls after the 1992, 1993 and 1995 seasons.
“Jerry was trying to pay for the Cowboys those first three or four years,” Johnson said. “That’s the way it was.”
Jones did not respond to an interview request Wednesday.
In a May 21, 1989 Dallas Morning News story detailing Johnson’s authority with the Cowboys, Jones was quoted saying, “Jimmy is coach and chief executive officer of the Dallas Cowboys. Jimmy has the capacity to run major corporations, so he can certainly handle the Cowboys. It’s a unique situation, but he has unique abilities.”
But Johnson said Jones wanted more credit when he realized the business end of the Cowboys was not quite as glamorous as the day-to-day football operation.
“In the third or fourth year, Jerry said, ‘I want to be part of this. Nobody cares how much money I make, they want to know about a second-string guard,’“ Johnson said.
Johnson said when the Cowboys traded with Atlanta for defensive tackle Tony Casillas in training camp before the 1991 season, he was surprised to hear Jones taking credit. Johnson said when he told Jones about the trade, the owner was not familiar with Casillas, who had played at the University of Oklahoma and been the second pick of the 1986 draft.
“I was steamed,” Johnson said.

Something tells me this guy's a Cowboy fan. You don't get a great GM unless you get lucky. I mean it's got a unique skill set that even you probably don't even know for sure how good you'll be at it, and teams don't just let great GMs go. Who knew Ozzie Newsome would be so good?

You need a guy that can create a plan. Find all the pieces that will work together, and relentlessly, and ruthlessly make it happen. You also need to find coaches with great confidence in themselves, and get them to listen to you, and to each other. Then you need to be able to get other teams GMs to trust you while you screw them over. You have to deal with the media, being open and honest without actually telling them anything. Making yourself look good while not blaming anyone else. Not an easy job. I'm not so sure Mangini wouldn't be good at it. To me he seemed really good at the "process", but not so good at the implementation, or relating his ideas to the players. Who knows.

Something tells me this guy's a Cowboy fan. You don't get a great GM unless you get lucky. I mean it's got a unique skill set that even you probably don't even know for sure how good you'll be at it, and teams don't just let great GMs go. Who knew Ozzie Newsome would be so good?

You need a guy that can create a plan. Find all the pieces that will work together, and relentlessly, and ruthlessly make it happen. You also need to find coaches with great confidence in themselves, and get them to listen to you, and to each other. Then you need to be able to get other teams GMs to trust you while you screw them over. You have to deal with the media, being open and honest without actually telling them anything. Making yourself look good while not blaming anyone else. Not an easy job. I'm not so sure Mangini wouldn't be good at it. To me he seemed really good at the "process", but not so good at the implementation, or relating his ideas to the players. Who knows.

Your post is correct to a point. "Screwing over other GMs never really comes into play unless you are trading bad players with bad contracts, then almost every time, the team receiving the player and comtract gets fleeced.

As far as getting lucky with a GM, I would be a proponent of hiring an assistant of a proven GM. Someone who has worked under a proven commodity and someone that has done it for a while and thus learned to deal with adversity with an underperforming team and coaches.

We have talked about several GM candidates lately. Two examples, Caldwell has worked under Dimitroff in Atlanta. But to his detriment, he has only been at his current position for a year.

Look at someone like Abrams, who has served as the assistant GM for the Giants for a very long time. He has seen everything from both teams (Jets and Giants) through the NY media. He has dealt with Giant teams that have under performed. He has been a contributer on two Super Bowl teams. He has seen an organization stay true to the plan and not switch plans every couple of seasons.

Thye have traded up for the franchise QB despite what everyone thought of Eli on draft day, and for a few seasons after that. They hit homeruns on draft day, on undrafted free agents, as well as veteran free agents.

Over his course at the Giants, they have seen coaches that don't work out long term, (Fassell) and he has seen the type of Coaches that work long term (Coughlin).

It would probably cost Woody a pretty penny, but if he wants his organization to be like the Giants, this is the move to make. A guy like this would bring in a disciplinarian as a HC. My guess is if he wanted to bring in someone he is familiar with , he could bring in Spags or Fewell. Not sure how I feel about either, but I would trust his judgement. He could go with Todd Haley or Mike Nolan, both no nonsense kind of coaches.